Ohioans have been living with a gas tax increase for almost three years. But in this election year , some Republican state lawmakers are pushing forward on a proposal to put the brakes on that tax.
The statewide average price for regular-grade gas is now $4.08 a gallon, the highest since 2008.
In 2019, the year started with a battle over the gas tax, with newly inaugurated Republican Gov. Mike DeWine wanting an 18-cent a gallon increase.
Ohio Department of Transportation director that his agency was in a grim financial situation, and this was simply a safety issue.
鈥淚f we do not have the funding to fix Ohio roads, more crashes will happen, and I鈥檓 sad to say more people will get hurt and even sadder to say that some people will die," Marchbanks said.
The back-and-forth over the next few weeks brought this notable sound bite from Republican former House Speaker Larry Householder, talking about the Senate鈥檚 unwillingness to bargain on a gas tax hike .
鈥淲hen you come here, you鈥檝e got to put on your big boy pants. You鈥檝e got to pull your binkie out of your mouth and you鈥檝e got to make tough decisions," Householder said at the time.
Eventually, per gallon in the gas tax, with a 19 cent hike in the price per gallon for diesel.
Fast forward three years, and Sen. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City), one of the nine Republican 鈥渘o鈥� votes on that transportation budget in the Senate in 2019, .
鈥淚t would repeal, essentially, the tax increase from the transportation budget of 2019,鈥� Huffman said.
Huffman said he鈥檚 proposing repealing the gas tax increase for five years, because over that time, Ohio will get $11.5 billion in federal funds from the infrastructure bill, while the gas tax would only generate $1.5 billion.
鈥淭he state of Ohio, in the next five years, will get $10 billion more than we estimated we鈥檇 need and what the governor thought we needed when we passed the tax in 2019," Huffman said. "It sounds like there鈥檚 plenty of money to go around to build those roads, bridges and highways."
Huffman, who is running for re-election this year, said this isn鈥檛 just a response to inflation and high gas prices drivers are seeing now, but he said the bill would put money back in people鈥檚 hands, especially lower-income Ohioans, as higher gas prices hit them hard.
But Gov. Mike DeWine, who鈥檚 also up for re-election, said now isn鈥檛 the time to pull back on that source of revenue.
鈥淲e need this money to keep our roads going and repair our roads and make our roads safer," DeWine said. "So it would just be a mistake to do that.鈥�
Huffman鈥檚 bill would also suspend the $200 annual registration fee for electric vehicles and $100 yearly fee for plug-in hybrids, both also from that transportation budget. But Huffman said while he had proposed to repeal all the increases from that budget, those fees are an area where he could negotiate.
This comes as the state is working on repairing the crumbling Brent Spence Bridge in Cincinnati, mentioned by three presidents as a poster child for the need for more federal infrastructure spending. It鈥檚 the second-most congested corridor in the US, and was.
to work together to apply for funding for improvements to the bridge and to build a second one 鈥� with a total cost of $2.8 billion and a five year timeline. And DeWine said a big chunk of that money will come from the states.
鈥淭he first thing we have to do is see how much money we can get from the federal government," DeWine said. "We think we鈥檒l get something, and we think we have a very compelling case that this is a bridge of great national significance. And we need a new bridge, and we need to fix the bridge that we have.鈥�
Huffman said he expects both states to chip in a billion dollars each, and he doesn鈥檛 think his bill to repeal of the gas tax and the hybrid fees increases is in conflict with the goal of getting the money to fix the bridge.
鈥淲e鈥檙e getting $10 billion from the federal government and hopefully, some of that money is going to go to the Brent Spence Bridge because it is an economic drive that we at some point soon have to address for the benefit of all of Ohio," Huffman said. "So I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 a competition. I think that there will be plenty of money to fund that bridge and other projects.鈥�
Though the transportation budget , two-thirds of Republican Senate caucus is listed as sponsoring Huffman鈥檚 bill - including four Senators who voted for that budget with the gas tax increase two years ago. It has no Democratic co-sponsors.
But there is that would cut the hybrid fees in half.
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